Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation 11/28/2018 with Kate Johnson

Episode Date: November 29, 2018

The Rubin Museum of Art presents a weekly meditation session led by a prominent meditation teacher from the New York area, with each session focusing on a specific work of art. This podcast is recorded in front of a live audience, and includes an opening talk, a 20-minute sitting session, and a closing discussion. The guided meditation begins at 10:30. If you would like to attend Mindfulness Meditation sessions in person or learn more, please visit our website at RubinMuseum.org/meditation. This program is supported in part by the Hemera Foundation with thanks to our presenting partners Sharon Salzberg, the Interdependence Project, and Parabola Magazine. Kate Johnson led this meditation session on November 28, 2018. To view a related artwork for this week's session, please visit: http://rubinmuseum.org/events/event/kate-johnson-11-28-2018

Welcome to the Mindfulness Meditation Podcast. I'm your host, Dawn Eshelman. Every Wednesday at the Rubin Museum of Art in Chelsea, we present a meditation session led by a prominent meditation teacher from the New York area. This podcast is a recording of our weekly practice. If you would like to join us in person, please visit our website at rubinmuseum.org meditation. We are proud to be partnering with Sharon Salzberg and teachers from the Interdependence Project. The series is supported in part by the Hemera Foundation. In the description for each episode, you will find information about the theme for that week's session,

including an image of a related artwork chosen from the Rubin Museum's permanent collection. And now, please enjoy your practice. Please enjoy your practice. Welcome. Welcome this afternoon to the Rubin Museum of Art and to our mindfulness meditation practice. My name is Dawn Eshelman, head of programs here. Great to see you all here. Anybody here for the first time? Great. Welcome. And who comes almost every week? Great. Welcome. And who comes almost every week? Great. And in between. Nice to have you all. And also welcome to those listening to our podcast. We do podcast these free on iTunes. So if you ever want to hear something again, or if you miss something and you want to join in, feel free. So we've been talking this month about change in relationship to the future, which has been this kind of year-long conversation we've been having all

about the future, our relationship to it, how we feel about it. And usually what comes up when we talk about it is this concept of change and how we engage with it, what feelings come up around a concept of change. Also in here we've been talking about how meditation helps us change and also helps us deal with change intentionally. We're looking today at Padmasambhava, who's known as the second Buddha, master of time. And Padmasambhava is known as the person, the figure, who brought Buddhism to Tibet. And in fact, he is a magician of sorts, a sorcerer of sorts. He can time travel. He can project teachings into the future so that people who

need them can find them, even after he's not around anymore. And as with many figures in Tibetan Buddhism, and especially related to deity figures, he can manifest in different forms. to deity figures, he can manifest in different forms. So he can manifest in a wrathful form. He can manifest as an ascetic, as a royal, as a monastic. And here we see him as a scholar, a scholar of Buddhism. And in fact, this painting shows the story, this moment that's being depicted here, painting shows the story, this moment that's being depicted here is when he is invited by a king of Tibet to come to Tibet and really bring Buddhism to his kingdom. And he is met with some folks who find him rather suspicious. And he is able to convince them in this form that just of the benefits of Buddhism.

So we will talk a little bit more about change in our practice today with Kate Johnson, who is with us again. Welcome back. And Kate works at the intersections of spiritual practice, social action, and creative expression. She's been practicing Buddhist meditation in the Western insight Theravada tradition since 2008 and is empowered as a teacher through the Spirit Rock Meditation Center. She holds a BFA in dance from the Alvin Ailey School at Fordham University and an MA in performance studies from NYU.

She's a core faculty member of MIT's Presencing Institute and has trained hundreds of leaders and change makers in mindfulness practices and dance improv to surface the collective wisdom of the social body and use it to inform strategic planning and systems change. And she's working on a book about waking up to power and oppression as a spiritual practice. So please welcome her back, Kate Johnson.

Hi, everybody. Good to see you. So change, change is our theme. And I always like the opportunity to talk about change and think about it in the fall when change is so apparent, right? From day to day to day, the landscape looks different, the weather shifts. It's obvious that things are changing. And I love this quality of Padma Sambhava, the ability to manifest in different ways based on kind of what's needed in the moment. And in general, this quality of many Tibetan deities to manifest in ways that are joyful and ways that are wrathful and ways that are peaceful, it's a little bit in contrast to what I learned or picked up or assumed about an awakened being or a spiritual stance.

I thought it was always the same. Always peaceful, serene, meek even. Maybe some gendered ideas there about what is spiritual. ideas there about what is spiritual. But so I've been thinking a lot about what we can learn from these deities who are able to manifest in different ways based on what's appropriate for the moment. And change in all traditions of Buddhism is one of the core teachings that change is a constant in life, that all conditioned phenomena are subject to arising, shifting, and passing away, and that we are also part of that along our whole life, but also in a moment-to-moment kind of way. And so in the meditation practice, there's a couple ways we can relate

to change and learn more about it. One is actually to just observe change. So we do this sometimes by observing the shifting sensations of the breath as it comes and goes, right? That the beginning of the breath feels a different way than the middle of the breath, and that feels a different way than the end of the in-breath. and then there's a whole different set of sensations that come along without breath and there's something about allowing the mind to be steady and observing the flow of chains just in this micro phenomena of the breath that helps that can help us learn how to relate to the ebb and flow and shift of experience in a more like settled and receptive way it doesn't freak us out as much you know and that we actually can

start to look for change with a sense of appreciation like if we think that things are always going to be as they are today, which is kind of like the definition of depression, right? That not only do we not notice when they're subtly starting to shift and take that as an opportunity to get on board with that shift, right? But that for things that are fleeting, we might forget to appreciate them. So remembering that all things are arising and passing away can bring up a sense of appreciation for the preciousness that is right now in this moment that is only ever going to be like this, like right now.

And then another way that we can learn to relate to change in meditation practice is to actually start to notice that we can shape change with our intention. And it's not that we won't do any of the former today, but I'll emphasize a little bit this latter part of how do we manifest in relationship to our own mind. we don't choose how we are relating to our mind, most often we're in a default kind of relationship, right? Whatever that stance might be, whether it, and sometimes it's great. Sometimes it's a default of kindness and curiosity and compassion. And sometimes it's a default of judgment or of not good enough or of impatience, right? And most often, it changes. And so to be able to know not only what we're doing in meditation, in this case, we're going to be paying attention to the feeling of breath

or to another body sensation and letting that be the home base for our awareness. And when we notice our mind kind mind dispersing or ruminating on another thought or a body sensation, that will bring our awareness back to this felt sense of, OK, what does this breath feel like right now? Or how are my hands resting right now? So coming back to body is a way to gather and unify the attention.

So that's the what of the practice today. But then I'll invite you to, from time to time, not only notice where the mind is, like is it on the breath or is it off, but also what's my relationship to what's happening right now? Whether the mind is on the breath or off, what's the relationship? How am I manifesting in this moment in relationship to the mind? And if it's not a beneficial manifestation, if it's old news, if it's fake news, if it's not something that is impactful in the way that you choose, then I invite you to change, you know, to change your orientation to your mind. And what's cool about that, you know, a lot of times people say change is hard. I just want to challenge that a little bit. You know, let's discover on our own practice, you know, is it so hard to change?

So I'll leave us with that. Does that sound okay as a practice? Okay. So I think many of you know what to do. I'm finding your way into the meditation seat that feels good for you today. So I think many of you know what to do. Finding your way into the meditation seat that feels good for you today. And of course, for folks who are listening on the podcast, it's okay to lie down too. Sometimes the body needs that.

And then finding a way that you can feel grounded and relaxed in the body right now. So letting the bones settle in your spot, getting a sense that you're actually in a physical location and letting your body fully occupy that location, this location in space right now. And then even in the relaxation and the grounding, allowing there to be some alertness in the body, however that might be expressed, maybe a lift in the spine or openness in the chest

or a sense of openness at the top of the head. And that the mind is also alert online. And just take a moment, an internal check-in, to see how it is for you right now. How is the mind? How is the heart? How is the body doing? This is an opportunity to say, Hello, I care. Is there anything you need to tell me before we start this practice?

And an opportunity to listen. And then letting whatever is present in the heart or mind or body be present, starting to settle the mind into connection with the felt sense of your breath. You can start just with this one breath that you're on. and letting the mind be naturally curious and maybe even magnetized by the sensory experience. E aí. Now the experience of breath has subtle changes in temperature, in pressure, buoyancy, settling. And as you notice the sensations that are related to breathing in, you might say to yourself, oh, breathing in. And as you notice the sensations that come with the out breath, you might say to yourself, breathing out,

just as a way to help stabilize the mind, keep it connected to the feeling experience of the breath. E aí Дякую за перегляд! E aí Дякую. And so in this moment, just noticing what's happening in the mind, and notice your relationship to it. So it's your inner manifestation. And then seeing if you can change in a beneficial way if needed, either returning the awareness back to the breath, a beneficial way if needed, either returning the awareness back to the breath, softening the body or bringing more energy to the body, manifesting as unconditional love, manifesting as a fierce manifestation. And then letting the awareness settle and rest on the feeling of breath again. Breathing in, breathing out. E aí E aí E aí E aí E aí E aí And again, just noticing what's happening in the mind and what the relationship is to it.

And if it's not in service of greater freedom, just change. E aí E aí E aí E aí E aí E aí E aí E aí And so as we start to move into the last few minutes of the practice, So as we start to move into the last few minutes of the practice, just taking a moment to widen the awareness and reflect on what might have shifted or changed, many things that have shifted or changed since we started the formal practice period. And then taking into account what you've observed about your own mind and heart in this period, and also what you know about where you are in the arc of your life in this moment, maybe in the arc of where we are in our collective life. Just see if there's an inner wisdom that is offering you some information about what manifestation is needed now, how you are to relate to

experience so that you can shape change in the best possible way. possible way. And seeing if you can feel allows you to shape the change that is needed inside and out. E aí Thank you for your practice. Thank you for your practice. That concludes this week's practice. If you'd like to attend in person, please check out our website, rubinmuseum.org slash meditation to learn more.

Sessions are free to Rubin Museum members, just one of the many benefits of membership. Thank you for listening. Have a mindful day.